


Everything As Planned

by jeffersinning



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Galaxy Garrison, Personal headcanons and wild extrapolation of personalities bc these kids don’t get enough attention, Sam and Colleen are so cute, Sam and Iverson being bros, Sanda is kind of a jerk, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:41:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 9,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21661594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeffersinning/pseuds/jeffersinning
Summary: His plan had been to impress her with his coding skills, and then they’d work on the project and go to eat lunch together for a break. He’d say something smooth to hint to her about the Ball, and then eventually he’d ask her.There was one major problem though. Phase one of his plan was already a failure.
Relationships: Colleen Holt/Sam Holt, Sanda/Iverson
Kudos: 3





	1. The Plan

**Author's Note:**

> yeehaw I finally finished this thing after like a year of working on bc of random losses of motivation, etc. the ending is probably super rushed because of it but i really wanted to do this CUTE ASS couple (and also sanda and iverson!!!) justice and finish this. it’s full of some nonsense headcanons that i’ve deluded myself into that are on my wall somewhere. i hope u enjoy it regardless 
> 
> also the title a reference to we came as romans “everything as planned” because i thought of that song when i was like “wow wth do i call this now” and it’s fitting

Samuel Holt has been awake for twenty-four hours. 

He had thought that it would be a great idea to start the project early, so when he met with Colleen the next day, he wouldn’t look like a complete idiot. Maybe he could even impress her with his progress. 

Colleen was pretty, nice, and actually talked to him. And yeah, maybe there was the Garrison Ball coming up, and maybe his roommate had harassed him about asking someone. 

His plan had been to impress her with his coding skills, and then they’d work on the project and go to eat lunch together for a break. He’d say _something_ smooth to hint to her about the Ball, and then eventually he’d ask her.

There was one major problem though. Phase one of his plan was already a failure. He could not figure out why his code wasn’t working for the life of him. He had spent hours staring at his computer screen, wracking his brain over every letter, number, and symbol, only to have the same result, hours later. 

When he had checked the clock and it had read 08:00, he hadn’t even realized that he had stayed up all night working on it. He was supposed to meet Colleen in one of the classrooms to work on the project together. So he hauled his stupid ass into the shower and tried to make himself look presentable and less tired, grabbing a cup of coffee before rushing off to the classroom to set up and make it look like he knew what he was doing.

He had been so tired that he didn’t even notice Colleen enter the room, until she said his name.

“O-Oh, hey!” he greeted nervously, nearly knocking over his cup of coffee in doing so. That would have been a disaster. “Good... morning?”

Colleen was clearly suppressing her laughter at his clumsy greeting, setting down her own laptop and notes as she took the seat acros from him. “Morning Sam,” she said with a smile, that quickly turned into a frown as she studied his face.

“Did you get any sleep?” she asked him, and he froze up. She was on to him.

“Oh, uh. Yeah, some,” he lied, staring at the code on his screen. He wasn’t sure how Colleen knew what he was looking at, but somehow (the reflection off of his glasses) she knew he had worked on the code already.

“You already started the project?” she asked him, an expression of surprise but also concern on her face. 

“Yeah, a little,” he admitted to her, carefully turning his laptop to show Colleen the screen, with lines of code on the white screen, the cursor blinking at the end. Colleen furrowed her eyebrows at it, studying the sequences and symbols.

“Does it work?” she asked him, scrolling up with the touchpad. Sam shook his head, reluctantly. 

“I can’t figure out what’s wrong. None of the readings are coming out the way we need them to. I worked on it all night—“

“You what? Is that why you look like a zombie?” Colleen sounded almost offended, concern on her brow as she shifted her attention from the code to Sam.

She sounded like his mother. 

He shook his head, dejectedly. Phase one was going terribly wrong. He was going to have to abort the mission soon. 

“You know, it would’ve worked if you just double modulated it.”

Sam looked at her blankly, the gears in his brain basically scraping against each other as they struggled to process her suggestion. “Double modulation isn’t necessary here though.”

Colleen had the slightest bit of a smirk on her face as she began typing away on his laptop, brown eyes racing to keep up with her rapid typing. After a minute or two, she turned the laptop around to show Sam. It worked. 

He looked at it in disbelief. That was all he needed to do? The idea hadn’t even crossed his mind. He vaguely remembered his professor saying something about how double modulation wasn’t ever necessary, but Colleen proved him wrong. 

“Why don’t you go get some sleep?” she suggested to him, though he knew it was more like an order. He wasn’t about to object, closing his laptop and sitting there in a daze.

Colleen smirked at him again, a twinkle in her brown eyes as she smiled at him. Sam could feel his face heat up. He scrambled to gather his things.

“If you wake up before dinner time, maybe we could grab some food at the cafeteria together.” Sam froze right before the coffee touched his lips, and he, set the cup down after her suggestion. He would have most definitely choked if he had actually began drinking it. Was she asking him out on a date? 

Colleen gathered her own things, waving to Sam as she left the room, leaving the Holt boy shaken. 

He just got asked out by Colleen Luzzato. 


	2. Mitch Iverson

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mitch teases Sam.

Sam had set an alarm for 17:00. Even if it meant only seven hours of sleep to make up for many lost, it was worth it. This is what he had wanted to happen— even if phase one was a failure, phase two (or three?) was in full swing. 

He had ended up waking up at 15:00, too excited for his own good. His roommate, Mitch, already puzzled as to why he was sleeping in the middle of the day, must have sensed his excitement, as Sam tried to funnel it into homework that he’d procrastinated on to get the project he had with Colleen done.

“What’s got you so excited, cowboy?” Mitch asked Sam, turned around in his chair and squinting at the other male with a mischievous smirk on his face. Sam’s mind had been preoccupied with thoughts of Colleen and the date and not actually his homework, so he didn’t hear Mitch.

“Earth to Holt.” Iverson chucked an eraser at Sam’s head, and it hit without fail, causing him to turn around, irritation on his face.

“What do you want, Mitch?” Sam asked, rubbing his head and reaching down to retrieve the eraser. He tossed it back, and Mitch caught it, setting it back down on his desk.

“Just wondering if the reason why you’re so giddy is that you read something about Pluto or you actually got a date to the ball, is all.”

Sam narrowed his eyes at his roommate. Iverson was a pain in the ass sometimes and lowkey bullied him (though in good will, he tried to convince himself). He had a weird mismatch between his appearance and personality, emanating seriousness and the typical jock on the outside, while actually being somewhat of a softie on the inside, with a weakness for any and all dogs.

Besides that, Sam didn’t really know him that well. They had only been assigned roommates this year, and it was only a couple of months into the school year. He did know that Iverson liked to pick on him for his fascination with space, his redneck family, and ineptitude when it came to talking to girls. It’s not like Mitch was great with girls either, even though he did have a girlfriend. Ellen Sanda was not a nice girl. 

“It’s none of your business, /Mitchell/,” Sam defended, narrowing his eyes at Mitch. Mitch only smirked at him in amusement.

“Fine, be that way. How’d your project with /Colleen/ go?” It was uncomfortable hearing Mitch talk with such a sing-song voice. Even moreso that he knew about Sam’s crush on Colleen.

“It went fine,” was all that Sam disclosed, staring at the algorithm on his screen for the fourth time since he tried starting. He wasn’t getting anything done.

“You weren’t here all night. What’d you do, fall asleep in a lab? Or did you stay up all night? Is that why you slept at nine in the morning?”

“I didn’t know you were my father.”

“I’m just looking out for you, son,” Iverson mocked in a southern drawl that was comparatively worse than the sing-song tone. Too bad he used it more often.

Sam rolled his eyes, trying to turn his attention back to his work. Mitch finally decided to stop bothering him, and did the same. 


	3. 18:00

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam’s late and shows up at 18:09.

18:00 Came by faster than he had expected, and before he knew it, Sam Holt was gathering up his things, tripping over himself and rushing straight to the dining hall, ignoring Iverson’s teases as he left the room. He was late, running through the halls as fast as his gangly legs would carry him. 

He arrived at the dining hall at 18:09, a little late and a little sweaty. He cursed himself for being so out of shape (which was ironic considering he attended a military academy), and tried to spot where Colleen was seated in the bustling dining hall.

Colleen was sitting at a table alone, looking down at her phone. Sam took a deep breath and walked over to her, hoping she’d notice his presence first so he wouldn’t have to initiate conversation.

She didn’t, so Sam was left to awkwardly say hi.

“Um. Howdy?”

Colleen looked up from her phone, eyebrow raised in amusement. 

“Howdy?” She put away her phone, tucking it into the pocket of her uniform. “You from the south or something?”

Sam blushed, not sure if she was joking with him or seriously asking. Welp.

“Uhh, actually,” he began, clearing his throat as he took the seat across from her. “I grew up in Arkansas.” Colleen looked surprised.

“Really? I would have never guessed,” she told him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “My family’s from Rhode Island.”

An awkward silence fell upon them, as they sat, avoiding each other’s gaze out of pure shyness. Sam shifted awkwardly in his seat, before he heard his stomach growl, and his face flushed with embarrassment. He realized he hadn’t eaten all day.

“Why don’t we get some food?” Colleen suggested with a wink, making Sam’s legs turn to jello. Colleen got up, waiting for Sam to follow, and he urged himself up, stumbling slightly as he stood. He was already a mess and they haven’t exchanged more than two comprehensive sentences. 

After returning back to the table with food on their plates, the two began to eat silently, neither of them speaking. It wasn’t until Colleen initiated conversation, throwing Sam off, that a word was uttered at their table.

“So Sam,” she began, dipping a chicken nugget into some ketchup. “Are you a comm specialist? You seem like a comm specialist, but your single-modulating says otherwise...”

Sam nearly choked on his curly fry, coughing it up so he could respond to Colleen. Would she ever drop this?

“No, I’m not a comm specialist,” he told Colleen, trying to subtly fold the regurgitated french fry into a napkin. “I’m an engineer.”

“Oh, so that explains it,” she said smugly with her mouth full, of all things, pressing another of Sam’s buttons. She finally swallowed her food. “Why are you taking a communications class?”

“I was curious,” he told her truthfully, attempting to eat one of his fries again without having to spit it out. 

Colleen seemed pretty amused, shoving another chicken nugget into her mouth. “You were so curious you went and did the entire partner project on your own?” She caught herself. “Or at least, tried.”

The french fry caught in his throat but Sam managed to choke it down, the crispy edges of it leaving a scratchy feeling. This was not going well. Not only could he not talk in front of this girl, he couldn’t walk, and now he couldn’t even eat like a normal person. She had to think he was insane at this point.

“Yeah, about that,” Sam began, pushing his tray away from himself slightly, having given up eating. He didn’t look up to meet Colleen’s eyes. “I-I was trying to impress you.”

Colleen laughed, and it made it so much worse. “Well it didn’t work.”

“Yes— I know that.” 

“You didn’t let me finish,” she cut in, a hint of annoyance on her face. “I appreciate the effort though.”

Sam’s heart did that warm and fuzzy thing again, and he reached for a fry to do /something/. When he looked up at Colleen, she was looking at him expectantly. 

“Thank you?” he said, more like a question, before successfully eating a fry. 

“No, you dingus. Why did you even bother trying to do the project all on your own anyways?” 

Sam was not the best with confrontation. Colleen was confronting him. This was not going to go well.

The room went from a comfortable temperature to insufferably hot. Sam was sweating. His hands were clammy, with sweaty palms and the whole ten yards. Colleen wanted to know about his entire plan.

Okay, she didn’t explicitly say that— she didn’t know he had a plan yet. But she definitely had caught on that he tried to do all of the project for a reason. 

“What do you want?“

“I don’t want anything!” Sam said defensively, which was a major lie. Oh well, might as well admit it. “Well, that was a lie, I /did/ want something, but... My plan didn’t work out so—“

“You had a /plan/?” He couldn’t tell if Colleen was angry or upset.

“I had wanted to impress you by finishing the project,” he began, spilling the beans. All over the floor. “After that, I had wanted to go for dinner or something with you, and then impress you further with my conversational skills, of which I grossly overestimated.” He sunk deeper into his chair, wanting to just disappear. “Then I was going to ask you to the Garrison Ball,” he mumbled, frowning after. 

Colleen took a moment to process that information, looking puzzled. Probably as to why someone like him thought he would have a chance with her.

“So, did you just ask me to the Ball, or what?”

Sam’s eyes widened exponentially. Had he? That was the lamest way he could have ever done that... had she misunderstood? He was just telling her his failure of a plan, not actually asking her out...

“I don’t think you understood—“ he was cut off by her.

“I think you’re the one who isn’t getting it.” Sam raised an eyebrow, pointing to himself as in saying, ‘who, me?’. Colleen nodded. “Even though things didn’t go exactly according to your plan, it sounds like everything you wanted to happen happened. Except for this one thing.”

What one thing? Everything had been messed up. He was so confused. 

“Yes, Samuel Holt. I’ll go to the Ball with you.”

The last thing he remembered was getting very dizzy. 


	4. Will you please go out with me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone asks Sam out. It’s not Colleen.

He awoke in his bed, jolting awake. Had that been a sick dream? Nightmare? There was no way that Colleen said yes, he just couldn’t believe—

“You’re finally awake, cowboy,” Mitch said, spinning around in his chair to face Sam. “Man, you should have seen yourself. I had just arrived at the cafeteria to eat and the first thing I see is you, passed out on the floor. Colleen called me over and had me help lift you and bring you back here. She told me /everything/.”

So, it was a nightmare. Great. He would not hear the end of this.

“Congratulations, though. I had seriously doubted you, but somehow you managed to actually get a date to the Ball. With Colleen of all people.”

Sam groaned, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes. And his head. Had he hit it on his way down? What time was it? 

He snatched his glasses off of the bedside table and put them on, blinking at the sudden clarity. Part of him wanted to take them off again though, so he wouldn’t have to see Mitch’s smug face.

The clock read 20:07. It was late. Had he been out for that long? He supposed he was still a little sleep deprived. Well. Not anymore. 

“We should go out and celebrate sometime. You know, just bros, out on the town—“

“I’ll pass,” Sam said, throat hoarse. He urged himself out of bed and over to his desk, retrieving his water bottle and taking a solid three minutes to drink from it. He was half waiting for Iverson to call him a ‘thirsty boi’ after, but the guy finally decided to stop bothering Sam for just this one time.

“Promise me we’ll go out sometime soon then?”

“Why do you want to go out with me? I thought you were dating Ellen.” Iverson rolled his eyes. 

“It’ll be fun. I swear. This Friday. We’ll go to this club I found that barely even checks IDs. Just two guys, out on the town.”

“—an arms length apart because they’re not gay.” Iverson winked at him. 

“Now you’re getting it.”


	5. UNDER 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Underage drinking.

The rest of the week went by pretty normally. Sam and Colleen had dinner a few more times, and Sam didn’t pass out at any of them. They got a good grade on their partner project, too, courtesy of Colleen.

Friday came, and after returning from a rather long dinner with Colleen, Sam found Mitch in his closet, rummaging through his clothes. Mitch himself was dressed in semi-casual attire, a burgundy button-up and dark wash jeans, with dressy shoes on. Sam had never seen him wear something this... nice before?

“What are you doing in my closet?” Sam asked, dropping his bag at the foot of his bed before walking over to Iverson. 

“All of your clothes are trash,” Mitch said, digging around in his dresser. Sam would have gotten offended if he hadn’t known it was true. His fashion sense was subpar. Good thing most of his time at the Garrison was spent in uniform. “Here, put these on,” Mitch instructed, turning around and handing Sam his slightly wrinkled grey NASA t-shirt, a dark blue cardigan, and some faded black jeans. 

Sam did as instructed, changing out of his uniform and into the clothes, honestly amazed at Mitch’s fashion sense. He had managed to pull something nice out of his disastrous wardrobe. Mitch reluctantly gave him his ratty orange converse. 

“You really don’t have any other shoes? What are you going to do for the Ball?”

“My dress shoes hurt my feet,” Sam complained, unbuttoning his cardigan and pulling on his shoes. Iverson sighed. 

“I guess this is good enough. Now let’s sneak out,” he said grinning at Sam.

“It’s after hours, we’re not allowed outside our...” Sam sighed deeply. “What we’re doing is against the rules anyways, is it?” 

The only response he got was a nod, before Mitch was turning off their lights and slowly opening the door. Sam would have groaned if he didn’t know to keep quiet now.

The two of them hurried through the hallways, trying their best to stay out of sight and not get caught. Once they made it outside, Mitch said it was only a quick sprint to get outside the walls, and then a fifteen minute walk into town.

Sam wasn’t exactly one for gracefully sneaking around, but somehow he’d managed to follow Mitch’s lead and get off the Garrison Grounds without getting caught. Mitch reassured him that when they returned, security would be even more lax and sprinting would not be necessary. Sam was relieved.

They finally made it into town after a trek through the desert. The closest town outside of the Garrison was not the largest, and its nightlife was nearly nonexistent, with the exception of a couple of clubs and bars. Mitch had instructed him to bring any identification that looked remotely like a legal ID that wasn’t his Garrison ID, so he had his Arkansas driver’s license in hand as they waited to get into the club.

Amazingly the two of them made it in, even though Sam’s license had “UNDER 21” clearly written in bright red. Once inside, the noise and energy was overwhelming, with sweaty people grinding against each other on some fluorescent and flashy dance floor. Why did people come here in the first place?

“Let’s go get some drinks,” Mitch shouted over the music, gesturing for Sam to follow him to the bar. He ordered the two of them a round of shots, and handed Sam the small glass of liquor.

Sam stared down at the amber liquid. He had never drank alcohol before. Until now.

He downed the glass, the burning liquid like fire going down his throat, making his eyes water and face contort at the flavor. He coughed a couple of times before Iverson handed him another.

It was going to be a long night. 


	6. Old Town Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam has a hangover. Colleen and Sanda don’t get along.

He lost count of how many drinks he’d had after the fourth shot. From then, they switched to beers, but Sam had no clue how many they’d consumed. All he knew was that he couldn’t see straight anymore. 

At some point the mood of the club had switched from rave dancing to karaoke. Mitch had insisted that he sign up for a song, and in his alcohol-driven poor judgement, Sam did. 

He was intoxicated enough to willingly go up on a stage and sing “Old Town Road” into a microphone, loud enough for everyone in the club to hear. And he didn’t even care. He just went up there, and did it, rap and all. (And Iverson recorded the whole thing.)

Everything else after that was kind of a blur, but Sam vaguely recalled reverting back to an Arkansas accent for at least an hour following his rendition of that song. During that time, the club had closed and they began their trek back to the Garrison, arm in arm, stumbling the entire way back.

It still amazes him that they managed to get back to their dorm without getting caught. He didn’t wake up until almost noon the next day, but when he did, he had a horrible headache and felt like he was going to puke. 

He did, and it left him feeling gross, so he took a shower. When he got back from it, he only just then noticed that Iverson was not on the room.

Not his problem.

Checking his phone for the first time since who knows when, he raised an eyebrow at the notifications on his home screen, squinting at the brightness of it. He turned that down. 

Colleen  
text me when you wake up.  
Sent: 11:23

Colleen  
sam? are you awake?  
Sent 10:48

Colleen  
i ran into you guys yesterday night and had to help you back to your dorm. everything good now?  
Sent 09:39

Colleen  
just checking to see if you’re okay  
Sent 09:37

Fuck. Colleen had seen him like that? What had she been doing to run into them at that hour?

Colleen seemed a little annoyed by the look of responses she was getting from Sam, so he decided he’d better answer her. He typed out a message before going to put some clothes on.

Sam  
sorry i’m awake now  
12:53

Getting dressed was another ordeal, as too much movement triggered more nausea. Eventually he had managed to pick a random green shirt from his closet and some worn blue jeans, putting them on and going to check his phone again.

Colleen  
i’m coming over  
12:54

It wasn’t long before he heard a knock on his door. Sam had lay back down on his bed, still not feeling great. He didn’t want to get up.

“Come in,” he called out. He swore he could hear Colleen roll her eyes.

“It’s locked you dingus.”

Sam groaned, forcing himself out of bed and over to the door, opening it for Colleen. She did not look happy at all. 

“I was worried about you,” she told him, entering the room. She furrowed her eyebrows upon further examination. “Are you hungover?”

She looked like she wanted to hit him. Sam only shrugged and returned to his bed, laying down and staring at the ceiling.

“I guess I do have a hangover.”

Colleen took a seat in his desk chair. “Of course you do. I ran into you two yesterday night when I went to go use the restroom. I was surprised you could even stand.”

Sam buried his face in his hands. “I don’t want to be reminded.”

“Too bad. Iverson told me all about your karaoke moment. How you were stuck talking in a southern accent after the song. And, this morning, he sent me a video.” She held up her phone for emphasis, and believe it or not, her phone wallpaper was a very drunk Sam holding a microphone on a stage.

He wanted to curl up in such a tight ball that he would implode in on himself and disappear. Of course, that could never happen, he couldn’t generate nearly enough gravitational force, but it was more of an expression than anything. 

Colleen was smirking at him, and it was unsettling. Sam felt sick. 

“Should we go to the cafeteria so I can make my special hangover cure for you?”

“There’s a cure for this?”

“Not really,” she said admittedly. “But eating will help with your stomach.”

Sam weighed his options. He didn’t have any better ideas. “How do you know so much about hangovers?”

“I have a friend back home who drinks a little too much.”

His mind seemed to replay her words, trying to dissect the meaning behind them. Colleen didn’t let him though, urging Sam to follow her in getting up and leaving. She grabbed his hand and helped him up, and the two headed off to the cafeteria.

Sam sat at a table while Colleen got the both of them food. On her way back, she was balancing two trays of food, and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Someone bumped into her and a tray of food went flying, straight into Ellen Sanda.

The look on Sanda’s face was not happiness. She was fuming, eyes narrowed at Colleen.

Usually Colleen was a force to be reckoned with, but this time, she looked genuinely scared, like a deer in the headlights.

“Luzzato,” Sanda said threateningly, voice eerily calm. Sam got up from his seat. He couldn’t watch this happen.

Colleen gestured for Sam to go away, shoving the one tray that wasn’t all over Sanda onto him. She seemed to have a newfound confidence in her eyes.

“Ellen.”

Sanda was taller than Colleen, but that wasn’t stopping her. Both had rather frightening expressions on their faces, stuck in a staredown that threatened to turn the other to stone.

Sam set the tray down on the table, not sure whether he should intervene or not. Honestly, he’d probably get beaten to a pulp if he did, so it was in his best interest that he just watch and only butt in when it was absolutely necessary.

The tension in the room was overwhelming. The entire cafeteria had gone silent, except for the sound of the workers in the kitchen. Sam didn’t know what was going to happen. He just hoped nobody would get hurt.

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going, bitch? Or are you too busy looking at your loser boyfriend to—“

The next thing Sam knew, Colleen was tackling Sanda to the ground. Her fist was inches away from Sanda’s face before a commander yanked her off of the taller girl. 

The fight was quickly broken up without much damage. Since nobody had really been physically hurt, both girls were let off with a very stern warning, with the assurance that another instance like this would lead to more serious consequences. The observing students were told to return to their own business, and everything resumed as normal.

Sam watched as Sanda left the cafeteria, covered in soup and fuming. He turned to Colleen, approaching her with a concerned expression.

“Are you okay—“

“You’re not my boyfriend, by the way,” she told him matter-of-factly, and Sam frowned but nodded.

“Yeah, understood.”

“I was just mad because she called you a loser, that’s all.”

“Colleen. It’s fine. You don’t need to explain yourself.”

She let out a deep sigh, sitting down at the table that Sam had put the tray of food on. “I’m sorry I ruined your lunch. This was supposed to fix your headache not make it worse.”

Sam shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t feel as bad now,” he admitted to her. “I’ll go get you some food, you stay here.”

He expected Colleen to protest, but she didn’t. When Sam returned from getting food, she was sitting, staring off into the distance. 

“What are we?” Colleen asked Sam, catching him off guard. Sam only raised an eyebrow in response as he sat down.

“Not boyfriend and girlfriend, like you said.”

The response didn’t seem to satisfy Colleen.

“Yeah, but are we friends? Because I don’t know that much about you. All we do together is eat and complain about classes, you never really tell me about yourself. And what do you know about me?”

Sam thought for a moment. He tried to think of a time when they hung out in a non-food or academic related context. He couldn’t think of anything. Then again, they were sort of locked in a military training facility, so there wasn’t much else to do.

“Not much, I guess.”

“Exactly,” she said with a dissatisfied frown. “If we’re going to the Ball as dates, we should probably know more about each other.”

Sam wasn’t really seeing where this was going, but he went along with it.

“Yeah, sure. Do you want to go first?” he asked, blowing on his soup to cool it off. 

Colleen sighed. “I guess.” She took a bite of her mashed potatoes, chewing them with a conflicted expression on her face.

“I’m sorry, this is all so awkward.“ Sam shrugged. 

“Nothing new to me— I mean, the awkwardness part, not the... having a date to a ball, that’s pretty new—“ The pretty brown eyed girl sitting across from him laughed, and Sam felt like the clouds had parted, the sun shining down on him in that very moment. 

“It’s new to me too,” Colleen admitted to him, and Sam was surprised. She was so pretty, and nice, and... there was no way that she hadn’t been asked to something like this before. “My school never put on anything like this, so my ex and I never had the chance.”

Oh. Of course. How could he be so stupid?

“I went to this tiny private school in Providence. Everyone knew everyone in the school, but we were all pretty tight. They threw this “going away” party for me before I even announced I was attending the Garrison. I guess my parents were so proud of me they had let it slip,” she said, finishing her mashed potatoes. “What was your school like back home?”

“Oh, my school? It was nothing special. Honestly, probably as you’d expect it to be— small, rural, underfunded. A public school with an embarrassing literacy rate, and equally abysmal math competency. A lot of the reasons why I came here.”

“Don’t a lot of people where you’re from attend private schools?”

“My parents don’t believe in them, I don’t know.” he said with a shrug, staring into his soup. “They weren’t happy about me coming to the Garrison but they figured that at least it was kind of like being in the military.”

Colleen looked perplexed. “Why wouldn’t they be happy about you getting in here? Isn’t this one of the most selective schools in the country?”

“Yeah, they don’t really get the science and space thing.” Another shrug. “They were more interested in my brother getting recruited for division three college football.”

“What’s his name?” Sam frowned.

“Can we not talk about him right now?” Colleen seemed taken aback by the sudden snap, but backed off. It was clearly a sore subject.

A silence fell upon them. Sam was suddenly not hungry anymore, and he pushed his tray away. Colleen was chewing on her lip more than her food, and kicking herself for prodding Sam in the wrong way. 

He felt bad for lashing out at Colleen like that, but he was in no mood to be talking about his brother, nor his family at all honestly. He tried to shift the topic to Colleen’s family.

“Luzzato is Italian, right?”

Colleen was pulled from her thoughts to respond. She blinked a few times before nodding. 

“My dad’s family is from the northern part of Italy, but they’re mostly a European mix with an Italian last name. My mom is like, third generation Italian or something. I don’t speak any though, I can only understand some, probably because I took Spanish in high school. We only go over to visit family occasionally, but I think my parents go more frequently now, since it’s cheaper to pay for two plane tickets instead of three,” she said with a shrug. 

She rambled. Anything to fill the silence. Sam set down his spoon. 

“I’m going to go sleep,” he told Colleen, standing up from his seat. “I still don’t feel great. I’ll catch you later,” he waved a little before dumping out his food and leaving the cafeteria.

Colleen was left sitting alone, staring into her reflection in her own soup. She sighed, eating a little more before deciding that she too, wanted to lay down.

Walking through the halls, Colleen was too preoccupied frowning down at her feet to notice the person who stopped right in front of her. Luckily she stopped before she ran into them.

And it was Sanda. Great.

“What do you want this time?” Colleen asked, frown not faltering but now directed at the taller girl. She scanned her surroundings with her peripheral vision. Nobody was around. 

Sanda grit her teeth, eyes red with anger as she scowled down at Colleen.

“You really don’t remember? That big assignment we failed for the final project last year?”

“It was one grade, Ellen.”

“That one grade ruined my life. It dropped my GPA. I lost my scholarship. We almost lost our house, and my dad almost lost his job.”

Colleen was silent, eyes widening in realization. She hadn’t known any of this. 

“But it’s okay though,” Sanda began in a mocking tone. “‘The professor won’t notice the last part’,” she quoted Colleen, face full of contempt. “The only reason we could pay the tuition for this year was because we moved into a smaller house and sold one of the cars.”

Sanda sniffled, and Colleen reached a hand up to comfort her. Her hand was met with a slap. The nerve of her. 

“Don’t touch me,” she threatened, taking a step closer to Colleen to emphasize her height advantage. Colleen held her hands up in surrender and took a step back, turning to walk away. 

It was then when she felt the shove. It was a harsh push forwards, that sent her tumbling to the floor. By the time she was able to get up, Sanda was gone. 

-


	7. Dusty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam is dumb and Colleen is shook.

Colleen didn’t mind the compulsory Sunday exercise drills that the Garrison imposed on them. She ran track in high school, having been fairly active growing up. Sam clearly wasn’t a fan, breathing heavily and sweating only ten minutes into their laps around the grounds under the beating sun. They jogged silently, side by side, the pounding of shoes on hard desert soil and commanders blowing whistles or shouting commands the only sounds that filled the air. 

She contemplated telling him about Sandra’s confrontation yesterday, but kept her mouth shut. Was it too much like tattling? Did she want to be the kind of girl who sent her... boy friend? Friend that was a boy? After her? 

After reaching a set of cones, they were instructed to stop, waiting for the pair in front of them to finish their 50 meter sprint. At the blow of a whistle, Colleen took off, quite literally leaving Sam in the dust as the dry soil was kicked up behind her. She reached the next set of cones, slowing to a fairly light jog to wait for him to catch up.

Sam offered an almost pained smile, before coughing a few times. He continued jogging beside Colleen, but kept coughing, wheezing in between. She grabbed his arm, pulling him aside so the people behind them could continue.

“Sam. Are you okay?” Her eyebrows were knit with worry. He really didn’t look good at all. 

He was still coughing, clutching his chest as he shook his head. A commander stormed over to them, about to yell at them for stopping, until they saw Sam practically coughing his lungs out. 

“Cadet, bring him to the infirmary,” he ordered Colleen. She had half the mind to scold him for being so emotionless about the whole situation, but she had other things on her mind. 

She took his hand, wrapping an arm around him and leading him inside, out of the heat and into the hallways of the Garrison. His coughing stopped, but he was still breathing heavily, wheezing and holding his chest. 

The nurse at the infirmary seemed to know what was wrong immediately, and sat Sam down on a bed, instructing him to not lay down. She then pulled the curtain out, turning to Colleen with a frown.

“I’m sorry dear, but could you wait outside?”

She wasn’t going to argue, instead stepping out of the infirmary and taking a seat in the hallway as the door closed behind her. Time seemed to pass in slow motion, creeping along at an agonizing pace. What was happening with Sam?

Colleen had no clue how much time actually passed until the nurse stopped in the doorway and gestured for Colleen to come in. She led her to where Sam was laying, his slightly exposed chest moving with deep breaths. He blushed at the sight of Colleen, grabbing the sheet to cover himself more.

“What happened?” she blurted out, eyebrows wrinkled in concern. 

“I have asthma?” he answered, more like a question than a statement. Concern shifted to confusion.

“And you didn’t know?”

“No, I knew, it’s just not usually a problem. The dust and heat must have made it worse than usual. I don’t usually need my inhaler for exercise but I guess I should start using it now.”

The nurse nodded in agreement to his statement, before deciding to leave the two of them alone. Colleen sat down in the chair beside Sam, who fussed with the blanket over him. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Colleen’s hands folded in her lap. The only sounds were the nurse filing through papers in a different room, the hum of the air conditioning vents, and Sam’s audible breathing. It was oddly tranquil.

Unlike the statement brewing in her mind. It thundered around, rearing itself in different ending situations before being blurt out. Man she was doing a bad job at filtering herself as of lately.

“Sanda attacked me yesterday,” she mentioned, trying to be nonchalant about it but failing. She basically heard Sam’s jaw clench at the sound of the new information.

“She what? Are you okay? What happened?”

If there had been a heart monitor, Sam’s would be spiking now. He scanned Colleen’s body for any signs of injury. No bruises or anything.

“It’s fine,” she reassured him, gesturing for him to calm down. “I was more just surprised than anything. She was just upset about a partner project we had to do last year.”

Sam looked at her confused, not sure what Colleen meant. It’s been a year and Sanda was still upset?

“I thought we could cut corners on something but we ended up failing,” Colleen explained, noticing his confusion. “Apparently that one grade was enough to drop Sanda’s GPA and revoke her scholarship,” she frowned. “Caused some financial issues with her family. I guess I deserved it.”

Sam’s eyes widened before his brows furrowed with anger. He was not going to let Sanda bully Colleen like this. 

“You absolutely do not deserve that,” he assured her, a fire in his voice. “Nobody should feel like it’s okay to let someone push them around like that.” His words were firm, but he knew they were dripping with hypocrisy. He wished he had followed the same wisdom when he was home with his brother.

Colleen sighed, shrugging her shoulders. “It’s fine. I don’t think she’ll bother me anymore.” 

She wished she could say that with confidence, but there was no telling what Sanda was going to do. Maybe she’d leave her alone. Maybe she wouldn’t.


	8. The Dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sanda wants the pink dress. Iverson thinks otherwise.

There were few times when students were permitted to leave the premises of the Garrison and visit the nearby town. Only cadets within their last year at the Garrison had the freedom to go on weekends, while younger students were restricted only to specific occasions. One of these was a shopping day, where students could purchase attire for the upcoming Ball. 

They agreed not to go shopping together. Colleen went with some girls from her classes, while Sam went with Iverson and Sanda. Sanda was looking first, so Sam figured it would give Colleen the time to find something and coordinate colors. 

He sat outside of the dressing room, staring down at his worn Converse. They had been at this store for nearly an hour, trying on dresses. Sanda had apparently narrowed it down to two, but was having an excruciatingly difficult time deciding. Mitch stood behind her in the mirror, bickering with her about the dress. He didn’t like the powder pink one she was wearing, instead preferring the midnight blue one that was back in the dressing room.

The bell to the door of the shop rang as new customers entered. The hum of the quiet pop music soon was drowned out by female chattering, and the now too-familiar sound of hangers screeching on racks. 

Sanda sighed and re-entered the dressing room, emerging a few minutes later with the two dresses. She handed the pink one to the associate and headed towards the register holding the blue one. Mitch trailed her, as Sam urged himself up, reluctantly abandoning his comfy seat and following the two.

He was standing in line when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Instinctively he moved to the side, but instead was met with a familiar giggle.

“Hey you,” Colleen said with a smile. “Have you been at this shop the entire time?” she questioned him, gaze flickering towards Sanda and Iverson before returning to Sam. He nodded, admiring her casual outfit and noting that she didn’t have a bag with her. 

“You haven’t found anything yet?” It came out more accusatory than he intended, but luckily it wasn’t read as such. Colleen only shrugged. 

“Dress shopping isn’t really my thing—“ She was cut off by Iverson.

“-Sam.” 

He gave her a sad smile and waved awkwardly before following after his roommate and his girlfriend. Sanda was glaring into the back of Colleen’s head, and Mitch practically had to rip her away from her to leave.

Shopping for suit rentals for the two of them was only slightly easier. Sam never got dressed up for anything besides church or a relative’s wedding, but even those were comparatively more casual. Still, there were many more options for suits than he had initially thought. 

Since he had no word from Colleen on her dress color, Sam picked out basics with the help of Iverson. Sanda got bored and went into the shop next door, while Iverson explained to him why a double-breasted suit jacket would look better on him than a single-breasted one. During his explanation, Sam felt a buzz in his pocket and reached for his phone to open the text. 

The message was a close-up picture of a strangely familiar pink fabric from Colleen with no accompanying text. He showed the picture to Iverson, who narrowed his eyes for a second in familiarity before shrugging. 

“Gray suit it is,” he said, hanging up the black jacket he had been holding. 


	9. Fight Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Ow my eye.” - Mitch Iverson

Sam was staring down at some homework he was working on when he heard banging on his door. He had been home alone, Iverson off working somewhere with Sanda. He got up to go get it, when his phone started ringing, Colleen’s smiling face popping up on the screen. 

“Sam? Are you home? Please open up.” Her voice was panicked and shaky, desperation choking her. His stomach dropped. What could be making her so upset?

Without hanging up, he dashed to the door opening it to reveal said girl, clutching her phone to her ear and looking as if she saw a ghost. Colleen shoved her phone in her pocket and ran over to Sam, pulling him into a hug that seemed more like she was trying to hide in his arms. It was a minute before he spoke up.

“Coll—“ he stopped himself, remembering that she despised that nickname, “—een. What’s wrong?” he asked gently, not pulling away.

It took her a few minutes to gain enough composure to answer. Eventually she was able to calm down before she pulled away and took a seat on his bed.

“Sanda ruined my dress,” she sobbed out, wiping her eyes. “And I know it’s dumb that I’m crying over a stupid dress, but the Ball is only like a week away and I’ll never find anything else in time.”

Sam rubbed circles into her back, sighing. He hadn’t seen it but the color was too similar for him to not ask. “Did it have lace and a tie in the back?” She nodded slowly, not sure what he was getting at. He hummed in realization. “That was probably the dress Sanda wanted to wear, but Mitch didn’t want her to and convinced her to wear something else,” Sam explained.

Colleen was silent in realization, staring down at her lap. “Every time I try to stay out of her way I mess something up and she most definitely hates me now.”

Sam bit his lip, frowning. “It’s not your fault,” he assured her. “Nothing gives her the right to do this to you.”

“-But I—“ he cut her off, getting up and walking to the door.

“I’m going to go talk to her myself.”

Before she could stop him, he was gone.

-

Sam found Iverson and Sanda in a classroom, working on homework together. He opened the door unannounced, fuming with anger. Two pairs of eyes shot up at him, one pair confused and the other smirking.

“Why do you think it’s okay to be like this?” he pointed a finger at Sanda, body almost trembling with adrenaline. This is something he’d never dreamed of doing. Something he wished someone would have done for him when his brother was bullying him.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Sanda said slyly, playing dumb. Sam clenched his fists, holding his breath as he took a step closer to the girl. Iverson stepped in between them.

“Whoa there cowboy, what’s gotten into you—“

“You stay out of this!” he shouted, and before he realized what he was doing, he was jabbing a finger into Iverson’s chest.

Mitch grabbed his hand, his grip crushingly tight. “Sam, I know we’re friends, but I’m not going to let you talk to my girlfriend like this.”

Sam ripped his hand away from Iverson’s grasp. “Then tell your girlfriend to stop harassing m—“ he caught himself. “My friend!”

Iverson’s gaze shifted over to Sanda, who narrowed her eyes at Sam as she circled around him. “Why do you care so much? She’s not even your girlfriend. And she never will be. Even I think that skank deserves better than a loser like—“ 

He lost control at that moment, giving Sanda a shove. She stumbled into a desk with a crash, and Iverson ran to her side to help her up before locking eyes with Sam.

“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but that was not okay.”

“Tell her to stop! She started it!”

Iverson got up, standing toe to toe with him, his physique and height enveloping him. “Sam. Stop. Go back to your math problems or something.”

That triggered something in him that brought back some of his most painful memories. Years of being pushed around by his older brother, with no help from his parents. If anything, they encouraged it, always telling him to brush it off and that it wasn’t a big deal. He wasn’t going to take it anymore.

Before he knew it, he felt his fist connect with Iverson’s face, catching him by surprise and causing him to yell out in pain. His left eye was already bruising a dark violet. Iverson glared at Sam with his one eye. “Oh, now you’ve done it.”

He had never been physically attacked by his brother but he figured this is what it would have felt like. Iverson’s fists connected with his body, delivering pounding blows that he was in no shape to retaliate against. His own attempts at offence were futile, becoming moreso actions of defense. His glasses had fallen off during the confrontation, and without his sight he was even more powerless. Curled up in a ball on the ground, Iverson delivered one final blow to his chest, a kick that had a sickening crack, and an immense amount of pain that followed, causing him to black out.


	10. Kiss and Make Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conflict resolution.

He awoke to a too-familiar infirmiry, the pain crashing down on him as he drifted into consciousness. Colleen was sitting beside him, holding out his glasses. He moved to sit up and retrieve them, before a voice told him to stop and they were instead placed in his hand.

With sudden clarity, he saw Colleen’s concerned expression, and the unamused look on the nurse’s face. His exposed body had some purpling bruises on it, the worst a dark one on his chest.

“You’re such an idiot,” Colleen told him, unamused. Memories of what happened flooded back into his brain, explaining the injuries his body had sustained. “I don’t need you to go out picking fights for me.”

The nurse muttered a “let me know if you need me,” before he slinked off, leaving the two of them alone. 

“I talked to Iverson. And Sanda.” He waited for her to continue. “We’ve all been given a stern warning. If you do something like this again, the head commander mentioned expulsion,” she told him. 

Silence again. Sam’s breathing was uneven as he took shallow breaths. Anything too much caused him pain.

“Why did you do it? Was it to protect me? Because I don’t need you—“

“It wasn’t,” he breathed out, apologizing quietly for cutting her off again. “I... My brother used to push me around and bully me all the time. He still does when I’m home,” he explained to her. “I guess seeing the same thing happen to you made me want to stop it. I couldn’t help myself so I wanted to help you.”

Colleen frowned, and it was then when he realized that she was holding his hand. She clutched it tighter.

“Sam. Really, I can handle myself. You don’t need to go around punching out Iverson’s eye for me.”

His breath caught as Iverson pulled the curtain away that was dividing the room between the two of them. Sanda was sitting beside him, scowling. The other male had an eye patch over his left eye. He didn’t look angry as Sam had expected him to be.

“Hey,” he said almost nonchalantly, turning so he could see Sam with his good eye. “You really made your one hit count,” he joked. Sam furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“You’re not mad at me?”

“Eh, I’m over it. I’m sorry for letting myself go overboard on you. I shouldn’t have let it escalate like that.” Mitch apologized, holding a hand out to Sam. 

“It’s my fault. I let all the stupid stuff my brother did to me get to me. None of that was your doing, and you didn’t deserve this.” Sam let go of Colleen’s hand to reach out for Mitch’s shaking it in resolution.

A few moments of silence passed. Sam focused on his breathing, trying not to aggravate his sore ribs. Sanda seemed to be deep in thought. 

“No it’s my fault,” Sanda spoke up, her scowl gone, replaced with regret. “I’m sorry Sam. I’m sorry Mitch. I’m sorry Colleen.” She paused for a moment before speaking again. “I’m the one who escalated everything. I wasn’t trying as hard as I could have last year. The grade in that class wasn’t the only reason that things happened. I just took it out on you because I guess I was jealous,” she admitted to Colleen, looking down at her lap. 

“It’s okay,” Colleen reassured Sanda, smiling softly. “I forgive you.”

“Really?” 

“Yes.”

-

Sam winced as he buttoned up his suit jacket. His suit was a little tight on his swollen ribs, but he wanted to look his best for tonight, especially since Iverson told him it was a fashion sin to leave it unbuttoned. Said man was also getting ready, readjusting his tie and his new silk eye-patch. Sam had apologized again about that, after Iverson mentioned with a laugh that he would probably never be able to see out of that eye again. 

Iverson ruffled Sam’s hair, fussing with little details on his suit before deciding they were ready to go meet up with their respective dates.

It was a real Taylor Swift “You Belong With Me” moment when Colleen walked into the room. Her light pink dress had a big black ink stain on it, but she didn’t care anymore. Sanda’s midnight blue gown glittered as she followed after Colleen. They took some pictures to send home to family before heading into the gymnasium where the dance was being held.

The night was pretty casual, with Sam and Colleen mostly hanging back and off the dance floor. Iverson convinced them into dancing for just a bit, and Sam even danced with Sanda for a little until the combination of broken ribs and asthma made him have to stop. He sat next to Colleen off to the side, talking about nonsense and enjoying the atmosphere until she stopped and stared at him.

He blinked confusedly before she spoke. 

“Can I kiss you?” she asked quietly, barely audible over the music. Sam blushed before nodding, kicking himself because he looked a little too eager in his response. Colleen didn’t seem to care though, and pulled him into a kiss.

-

**Author's Note:**

> here u go, idk it was kinda fun exploring more of iverson and sanda’s personalities. iverson is surprisingly a super nice dude just a little dash of military no-nonsense. i feel like i did sanda dirty and didn’t really explain her actions well but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ maybe i’ll go back and revise it when i ponder about it more. i think i’m a cool bitch though incorporating the double modulating nonsense and iverson’s eye punch (since one of the writers claimed keith did it but was proven wrong lol) and kind of building more of the relationships between these old people of whom the show didn’t really go too much into otherwise. and man i love sam and colleen
> 
> also always ask for consent yo
> 
> also i was lazy and just posted this all at once in like bits so it’s more digestible ig. chapter titles and summaries are probably awful lol


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